1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanner cartridge which can be detachably mounted on a recording means of a serial printer to allow the serial printer to serve as a reading device.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, in some printers used for wordprocessors, a scanner unit having the same shape as that of a print means is attached in place of the print means to use the printer as a reading means.
Conventionally, a printer having a reading means of this type replaces a recording means held on a cartridge with a reading means and normally has the following arrangement. That is, an illumination device attached to a scanner head cartridge serving as the reading means illuminates the original surface, and the reflected image of the original is read by a sensor via a lens.
However, the conventional arrangement that replaces the recording means with the reading means to use the printer as a reading device suffers the following problems.
(1) In an ink-jet printer in which the recording means includes an ink tank and which records using ink, the color and amount of ink to be stored in the ink tank differ depending on the printer applications. For this reason, carriages that carry the recording means have various shapes. In particular, along with the recent remarkable advances of the recording techniques, novel printers and ink head cartridges have been manufactured in turn. As a consequence, a large number of types of scanner head cartridges must be manufactured in correspondence with ink head cartridges having different shapes and attachment methods. For this reason, the manufacturing cost increases very much.
(2) When the user who possesses a plurality of types of printers that can mount different ink head cartridges uses these printers as reading devices, he or she must purchase scanner head cartridges corresponding to his or her printers.
(3) In the case of a scanner head cartridge incorporating an optical system, in particular, in the case of an ink-jet printer that performs non-contact recording, adjustments of the optical system such as the focal length or the like must be performed. For this reason, a structure that allows easy adjustment must be provided.
It is an object of the present invention to simplify the apparatus arrangement in an image processing apparatus that can mount a plurality of types of cartridges that can attain different kinds of processing.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce the cost of an image processing cartridge.
It is still another object of the present invention to improve the functions of an image processing cartridge.
It is still another object of the present invention to allow to use common components between scanner and recording cartridges.
In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a scanner head cartridge that can be held on a carriage, which moves an ink head cartridge for an ink-jet printer for performing recording on a recording medium, in place of the ink head cartridge, comprising a first case which houses optical parts required for reading, and electrical parts required for image processing, and a second case which can engage with the first case to cover an open surface of the first case, wherein positioning guide means used upon inserting the scanner head cartridge into the carriage is formed on an upper surface of the second case.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image processing cartridge comprising a first case incorporating an image processing unit, and a second case which engages with the first case and also engages with a movable carriage arranged on an image processing apparatus.
Furthermore, according to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus using a scanner head cartridge that can be held on a carriage, which moves an ink head cartridge for an ink-jet printer for performing recording on a recording medium, in place of the ink head cartridge, which comprises a first case which houses optical parts required for reading, and electrical parts required for image processing, and a second case which can engage with the first case to cover an open surface of the first case, and in which positioning guide means used upon inserting the scanner head cartridge into the carriage is formed on an upper surface of the second case.
Moreover, according to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus using an image processing cartridge which comprises a first case incorporating an image processing unit, and a second case which engages with the first case and also engages with a movable carriage arranged on an image processing apparatus.
With the above arrangement, an image processing apparatus that can cope with various types of cartridges can be provided. Also, an improvement in functions and a cost reduction of the image processing cartridge can be attained. Furthermore, cartridges corresponding to a plurality of different image processing functions can use common components.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawings.